Swindler, spy, rebel : the confidence woman in nineteenth- century America / Kathleen De Grave. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

De Grave, Kathleen, 1950-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American prose literature--19th century--History and criticism.

American prose literature.

Swindlers and swindling--United States--History--19th century.

Swindlers and swindling.

Women and literature--United States--History--19th century.

Women and literature.

Alienation (Social psychology) in literature.

Swindlers and swindling in literature.

Female offenders in literature.

Women spies in literature.

Deception in literature.

American prose literature--History and criticism--19th century--United States.

Swindlers and swindling--History--19th century--United States.

Women and literature--History--19th century.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 270 p. )

Place of Publication:

Columbia : University of Missouri Press, c1995.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

One would not expect a police officer to describe a criminal as "remarkable," "well worth knowing," or "excellent." Yet some did when their quarry was a confidence woman. Blackmailer, swindler, or pickpocket: the confidence woman could take any form. Regardless of their different motives and tactics, confidence women have much in common, for they have long been misrepresented in American literature and culture. In Swindler, Spy, Rebel: The Confidence Woman in Nineteenth-Century America, Kathleen De Grave redresses the exaggerations and distortions by examining how the line between fact and fiction blurs.

Drawing from a variety of sources, such as memoirs, diaries, detective reports, newspaper accounts, and sociological studies written during the period, De Grave first presents a historical context. By comparing the exploits of such women as "Chicago May" Churchill, "Big Bertha" Heyman, and Ellen Peck to those of fictional women who used the same strategies in noncriminal situations, De Grave broadens the definition of the confidence woman beyond criminality to include adventuresses, soldiers/spies, and "gold diggers." Next, she relates how the confidence woman appears in autobiographies and in fiction. She further expands her argument to include the narrative devices of nineteenth-century women writers who used a kind of confidence game as a way to lure their readers into the text.

Contents:

1. Confronting the confidence woman

2. The confidence woman in context

3. Types of confidence women in history

4. Autobiographies of confidence women

5. Literature : muting the voice

6. The writer as confidence woman

7. Stowe to Wharton : a bold move.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-262) and index.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

0-8262-6031-4